Chapter 370
Si Nian sneered, "If I give it to someone else, I can still come back and work as usual. Why should I give it to you?"
Zhang Cuimei's face looked ugly: "Good things should be kept within the family, don't you understand? And you call yourself an educated person, yet you don't even know such a simple truth."
Si Nian rubbed her chin: "That's true, but if I remember correctly, the last time you, Auntie, cursed my son and said he deserved to be caught by human traffickers, I told you that I was cutting ties with you and we would have nothing more to do with each other. We are not related by blood, nor are we relatives. Why should I give it to you?"
Lin Sisi said, "Sister Si Nian, how can you say that? No matter what, my parents raised you for over a decade. You're going too far."
Si Nian replied, "My parents also raised you for over a decade, and how did you treat them? Not only did you steal their three thousand yuan bride price, causing them to lose all face, but you also pushed their biological daughter into a fire pit to be a stepmother. When it comes to going too far, I am not even one ten-thousandth as bad as you, Lin Sisi."
Lin Sisi's face flushed red.
Si Nian couldn't even be bothered to argue with Lin Sisi anymore. She looked directly at Si's Father and Si's Mother and said, "Lin Sisi caused the Lin family to have no peace, but what did I do wrong? I grew up obedient and sensible in the Si family. You wanted face, I gave you face. You wanted grades, I gave you grades. I even brought the commander's son right to your hands, giving up a readily available bright future. In the end, for the sake of your biological daughter, Lin Sisi, I went down to the countryside to marry in her place. What else do I owe you?"
"Before, you gave my job as a broadcaster to Lin Sisi without my consent. Now you are scheming for my teaching position. When have you ever truly cared about me, your adopted daughter? In your eyes, I am just an adopted daughter you seek out when useful and wish would roll far away when useless."
The couple's old faces flushed red at Si Nian's words.
They wanted to refute her, but everything Si Nian said was the undeniable truth.
"I am doing very well at the Second High School now. I don't need you to put in a good word for me. I have always believed that gold will shine wherever it is. If the First High School doesn't want me, there are other places that will. You don't need to worry about it."
"If there's nothing else, please leave."
The family of three walked out of the Zhou house with dark expressions.
Not only did they gain nothing from this trip, but they also completely lost face.
Although it was true that they had been somewhat in the wrong before and had made her suffer grievances.
But after all, they had raised her for over a decade. To actually kick them out like that was simply going too far.
Fang Hui came to the door of the Si house carrying things, and happened to run into the dejected family of three from the Si family.
She looked at the family curiously, wondering if they were relatives of the Zhou family.
Lin Sisi noticed her too, and her already ugly expression suddenly changed in shock.
Fang... Fang Hui?
Watching the Si family leave, Si Nian finally went out to the Jiang house to pick up Yaoyao.
Grandma Jiang had also seen the group of people who had just come to the Si house. As she hung up clothes, she asked her, "Niannian, is everything alright? I just saw a lot of people at your door."
Grandma Jiang didn't interact much with the people in the tube-shaped apartment building. Although some were easy to get along with, this group of people were gossips when they had nothing to do, and they would dig into everyone's family affairs.
A while ago, when the swine fever was severe, she had even seen this group pointing fingers at the Zhou family.
Now that they had shown up at the door again, it was hard not to overthink it.
Si Nian shook her head and said it was nothing.
Not seeing Yaoyao, she asked, "Aunt Jiang, where is that girl Yaoyao?"
Grandma Jiang smiled and said, "She's in the study playing chess with my old man. I heard the old man say that your Yaoyao has a great talent for Chinese chess, and he wants to teach her how to play. It's really funny. Yaoyao is only three years old, what kind of chess can she play? I think his bad habit is acting up again."
After saying that, Grandma Jiang sighed. In the past, when they lived in the family compound, the old man loved to play chess.
After retiring and moving here to the old house, they didn't know many people, and the surrounding relatives had all moved away. The old man couldn't find a playmate and was quite lonely.
He wouldn't even spare a little dumpling like her.
Hearing this, Si Nian's heart skipped a beat.
She still didn't know how to explain Yaoyao's photographic memory.
If she really learned chess just by looking at it, wouldn't Grandpa Jiang realize something was off?
Just a few days ago, those two old professors had come to ask her why she wasn't bringing Yaoyao to class anymore. Clearly, they still had designs on the little girl.
Si Nian was also worried that the older Yaoyao got, the more she would reveal, and eventually, she wouldn't be able to hide it. That was why she had recently reduced the time she spent taking her to school.
She didn't expect that leaving her at the Jiang house wouldn't be safe either.
However, the Jiang family were acquaintances, so there was no need to worry too much.
Thinking of this, Si Nian breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to call Yaoyao home.
"Oh, Teacher Xiao Si is here. I was just about to have your aunt ask you if you still have any of that darned mung bean soup."
The old man sitting in front of the chessboard playing chess smiled and greeted Si Nian.
Si Nian glanced at Yaoyao, who was lying on the floor reading a book nearby. Seeing that she wasn't playing chess with the old man, she withdrew her gaze.
She smiled and said, "Of course I do. I'll bring some over to you as soon as I get back."
"Yaoyao, it's time to go home."
Yaoyao hurriedly stood up hugging the book, held it up, and asked the old man.
"Grandpa, Grandpa, can I read this book?"
Grandpa Jiang smiled and said, "Of course you can. Take it back and read it. Just return it to me when you're done."
Grandpa Jiang didn't think much about the fact that Yaoyao could read. After all, Si Nian was a teacher, and he had heard that Si Nian's son had been smart since childhood. Therefore, a three-year-old recognizing words wasn't anything strange; his own son had been just as impressive when he was little.
Only after Si Nian led Yaoyao away did he stretch his back and stand up.
Grandma Jiang came in, looked at the chessboard in front of him, and said speechlessly, "You didn't really play chess with that little girl Yaoyao, did you? She's still a child, don't make things difficult for her."
Grandpa Jiang glared at her. "What do you know? Even though Yaoyao is a child, she's smart, no worse than your son. If you ask me, with a little training, she'll definitely be a Chinese chess master in time! I'm going to teach her secretly now, and then she'll amaze everyone."
Grandma Jiang: "...Childish."
Ever since their grandson came back all day saying he wanted to study secretly like his second brother and then amaze everyone, this old man had picked up the phrase too.
Sure enough, birds of a feather flock together.
Si Nian took Yaoyao home, and only then did she look at the book the girl was holding.
It was actually a Chinese chess manual called "Meng Ru Shen Ji".
Si Nian was silent for a moment, then asked Yaoyao, "Yaoyao, can you understand Grandpa's chess book?"
Yaoyao nodded repeatedly, then shook her head somewhat in distress: "I understand some of it, but not other parts. I'll ask my brother when he gets back."
Si Nian smiled. Although the little girl had been exposed to a lot, she hadn't undergone formal education after all, so there were definitely still many things she didn't understand.
Moreover, a book like "Meng Ru Shen Ji" was profound and complex. Many of the words and phrases were not something a child could comprehend.